This past month, the world has watched in horror as militant action threatens Iraq. With fundamentalist group ISIS and its affiliated jihadists determined to spread their message, social media has played a crucial role.

Despite Isis’s aims to revert Iraq to more traditional Islamic values, The Practice team were interested to see how the group has taken a very modern approach to spreading their cause. Social media has become the primary instigator for extremist propaganda, with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube the main platforms of choice. On Twitter, Isis has been quick to utilize trending hash tags, especially the World Cup. For example, the group posted a video to the site, showing the beheading of a police officer with the accompanying tweet: “This is our ball. It’s made of skin. #WorldCup.” From photos of executed soldiers and violence, propaganda has also extended to images of supporters carrying out day to day operations, encouraging community effort. While Twitter content has been published from a singular authority, Isis has also established regional accounts for publishing live feeds to report on daily activity. And to add a final layer to the operations, there are also the personal accounts of jihadist individuals, who have been posting images, slogans, and radical messages. They have also been imploring others to join the fight, with tweets seeking to encourage fellow “brothers and sisters” to travel to their home country.

In an attempt to group all content for supporters, Isis also created their own Twitter app for Android, “The Dawn of Glad Tidings” to send content from multiple linked accounts, in an attempt to saturate the site with messages. Users who sign up give Isis permission to publish tweets from their personal accounts, showing that this method is working for encouraging new recruits. What’s especially savvy about this tactic though, is that it makes Isis appear more powerful that it perhaps is. With multiple and widespread broadcasts across Twitter, it’s a clever way for attracting attention and creating a perception of terror.

So how else has Isis been using social media? It would seem that their accounts have not only been important for propaganda, but also for military strategy. As the group continues to capture more cities across the country, their tactics have been put to good use. For instance, two weeks prior to attacking the city of Mosul, Isis posted death threats to local Iraqi journalists on their Facebook accounts. This ensured all working in the area fled, allowing Isis to somewhat surreptitiously take over the city without global attention beforehand. The same is true for Iraqi security forces, who have seen soldiers flee due to images of mass executions and beheadings posted to Twitter. Even Iraqi Internet services such as ScopeSky Communications who have been trying to block radical site URLs, seem to have felt the intimidation, as many Isis affiliated sites have remained accessible. Clearly, digital scaremongering tactics have proven highly successful, and might ultimately be pivotal for ensuring Iraq’s take down.

Have you noticed the way in which terrorism has permeated social media channels? Do you think this has been the main factor in gaining recruits and ensuring progress? We’d love to hear your opinions, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your thoughts on our Facebook page.